Re: [WISPA] The Legislative Situation Is Dire
Mark,I think everyone knows you to be a very smart man.What do you suggest as a specific plan of action in the current situation.I think this is the best route to convey your message,with the impact you desire. Jason --- On Sat, 7/16/11, MDK wrote: From: MDK Subject: Re: [WISPA] The Legislative Situation Is Dire To: "WISPA General List" Date: Saturday, July 16, 2011, 12:59 AM A "plan of action"? If I said "this is what WISPA should do" and laid it out in detail, all you'd do is say "who are you? Why should we hacve to do what you say?" Frankly, I have no idea why you're having difficulty. You see, when you have proper business principles as your guiding mechanism, what you should do is crystal clear. Nobody needs to write out a plan of action, it becomes self evident - you always advocate FOR the proper and best thing. And, after being consistent, year after year, and when stuff like this comes up, which becomes so blatantly obviously a result of failure to follow true principle, again, nothing is obscure or difficult. Additionally, I said absolutely NOTHING partisan. Not even ideological. It's simple straightforward business principles. Principle Numero Uno is "have the freedom to be in business", and there is nothing convoluted or difficult about that. You seem to be interested in mere expediency. That's what's gotten us to this crisis point, the idea of managing the favoritism, the cronyism, etc, to favor you, or at least not hurt you too much. That's what's BEEN going on. Had we (WISPA) been looking for and actively seeking allies who would with us, say with many voices, but one message - "hands off, and be a steward of what's entrusted to you", I think the landscape would look different. The word "steward" is loaded. It means one entrusted to manage things for the benefit OF THE OWNER, that's us. The FCC and Congress are managing for the benefit of the federal treasury and the donations to campaigns - which is the polar opposite of managed for the good of the people. In the previous post, I wrote an analogy, one where the city effectively puts every service and business up for licensure at auction. It takes no imagination at all to see that the city coffers and the winning bidder are the beneficiaries and the people are the losers. Spectrum is a public or national resource held in trust by the federal government. Auctions to the highest bidder do not benefit anyone but the monopoly holder and the treasury, by creating monopolies or very limited competition. Again, we as consumers and businessmen are the losers. Imagine if there were enough spectrum delegated so that if us WISP's wanted to be mobile broadband providers we could, as well as cellular, or even video / audio broadcasters. Instead, such services have been delegated a minute slice of available spectrum, keeping up the price of the auctions - and the number of competitors down. Why? It is in the interest of politicians to separate us from our money. But their REAL job is to defend us keeping it. There are NOW myriad political allies to spread this message, to change the discussion from "whom to screw out of lots of money" to "what is the best policy for the people and keep competition alive?" And, that's the message that is NOT being advocated by WISPA, and it should be. You seem to think that the answer is to find the right pol to influence and the right committee members to lobby and the right allies to obstruct X or advance Y, but those are expediency, not principle. They should be TACTICS to a principled purpose, one that will attract others, on the basis of its soundness and validity. And lastly, about the FCC, the last administration's appointees were advocates for free markets and for competition and deregulation. Not particularly effective ones, but at least they were not our enemy. The current administration's people at the FCC are IN NO WAY our friend, for any way, manner, or purpose, and everything they want is bad for us and the country. STop talking political party talking points, and get some reality. ++ Neofast, Inc, Making internet easy 541-969-8200 509-386-4589 ++ -- From: "Faisal Imtiaz" Sent: Friday, July 15, 2011 8:01 PM To: "WISPA General List" Subject: Re: [WISPA] The Legislative Situation Is Dire > Errr... and your point is ? > > Ok, I am a nobody... I have seen / read your emails, not once can I say > I have been able to pick out a proposed specific, action or a plan of > action from you > > My friend you and I can agree or dis-agree on concepts all day long... > but the point still remains ... I for myself still am not able to > ascertain what exactly is it that you have been proposing ? ( I > understand the anger at all of the powers to be part...and I beg to > differ when you start blaming .
Re: [WISPA] The Legislative Situation Is Dire
A "plan of action"? If I said "this is what WISPA should do" and laid it out in detail, all you'd do is say "who are you? Why should we hacve to do what you say?" Frankly, I have no idea why you're having difficulty. You see, when you have proper business principles as your guiding mechanism, what you should do is crystal clear. Nobody needs to write out a plan of action, it becomes self evident - you always advocate FOR the proper and best thing. And, after being consistent, year after year, and when stuff like this comes up, which becomes so blatantly obviously a result of failure to follow true principle, again, nothing is obscure or difficult. Additionally, I said absolutely NOTHING partisan. Not even ideological. It's simple straightforward business principles. Principle Numero Uno is "have the freedom to be in business", and there is nothing convoluted or difficult about that. You seem to be interested in mere expediency. That's what's gotten us to this crisis point, the idea of managing the favoritism, the cronyism, etc, to favor you, or at least not hurt you too much. That's what's BEEN going on. Had we (WISPA) been looking for and actively seeking allies who would with us, say with many voices, but one message - "hands off, and be a steward of what's entrusted to you", I think the landscape would look different. The word "steward" is loaded. It means one entrusted to manage things for the benefit OF THE OWNER, that's us.The FCC and Congress are managing for the benefit of the federal treasury and the donations to campaigns - which is the polar opposite of managed for the good of the people. In the previous post, I wrote an analogy, one where the city effectively puts every service and business up for licensure at auction. It takes no imagination at all to see that the city coffers and the winning bidder are the beneficiaries and the people are the losers. Spectrum is a public or national resource held in trust by the federal government. Auctions to the highest bidder do not benefit anyone but the monopoly holder and the treasury, by creating monopolies or very limited competition. Again, we as consumers and businessmen are the losers. Imagine if there were enough spectrum delegated so that if us WISP's wanted to be mobile broadband providers we could, as well as cellular, or even video / audio broadcasters. Instead, such services have been delegated a minute slice of available spectrum, keeping up the price of the auctions - and the number of competitors down. Why? It is in the interest of politicians to separate us from our money. But their REAL job is to defend us keeping it. There are NOW myriad political allies to spread this message, to change the discussion from "whom to screw out of lots of money" to "what is the best policy for the people and keep competition alive?" And, that's the message that is NOT being advocated by WISPA, and it should be. You seem to think that the answer is to find the right pol to influence and the right committee members to lobby and the right allies to obstruct X or advance Y, but those are expediency, not principle. They should be TACTICS to a principled purpose, one that will attract others, on the basis of its soundness and validity. And lastly, about the FCC, the last administration's appointees were advocates for free markets and for competition and deregulation. Not particularly effective ones, but at least they were not our enemy. The current administration's people at the FCC are IN NO WAY our friend, for any way, manner, or purpose, and everything they want is bad for us and the country. STop talking political party talking points, and get some reality. ++ Neofast, Inc, Making internet easy 541-969-8200 509-386-4589 ++ -- From: "Faisal Imtiaz" Sent: Friday, July 15, 2011 8:01 PM To: "WISPA General List" Subject: Re: [WISPA] The Legislative Situation Is Dire > Errr... and your point is ? > > Ok, I am a nobody... I have seen / read your emails, not once can I say > I have been able to pick out a proposed specific, action or a plan of > action from you > > My friend you and I can agree or dis-agree on concepts all day long... > but the point still remains ... I for myself still am not able to > ascertain what exactly is it that you have been proposing ? ( I > understand the anger at all of the powers to be part...and I beg to > differ when you start blaming ..'this administration'. I personally > have been watching and following the FCC stuff, on sliding slopes, for > the last 12 years..that according to my calculations has been multiple > administrations.) > > You clear your head, and try to articulate your position in a > non-partisan manner, which can be understood by the general public, and > put forward a reasonably understandab
Re: [WISPA] The Legislative Situation Is Dire
Errr... and your point is ? Ok, I am a nobody... I have seen / read your emails, not once can I say I have been able to pick out a proposed specific, action or a plan of action from you My friend you and I can agree or dis-agree on concepts all day long... but the point still remains ... I for myself still am not able to ascertain what exactly is it that you have been proposing ? ( I understand the anger at all of the powers to be part...and I beg to differ when you start blaming ..'this administration'. I personally have been watching and following the FCC stuff, on sliding slopes, for the last 12 years..that according to my calculations has been multiple administrations.) You clear your head, and try to articulate your position in a non-partisan manner, which can be understood by the general public, and put forward a reasonably understandable plan of action I guarantee you, you will have many here who would be willing to listen and follow your lead... But if you continue expressing yourself in the convoluted manner, as in your email belowthen there is a very high probability that these will continue to be chalked off as "tirades" and "rants". :) Faisal Imtiaz Snappy Internet & Telecom On 7/15/2011 10:07 PM, MDK wrote: > Nice re-write of history, Forbes. Who are you trying to protect? > > It is NOT Congress which has been the motivating factor behind the FCC's > anti-competitive behavior... It has been the administration and the people > that this administration have appointed and have hired, combined with a > small number of extreme left-wing groups who have been pushing Net > Neutrality, etc. It was NEVER Congress that pushed this. > > Your effort to see spectrum auctioned is not so much a matter of lobbyists > having taken over Congress as it is a matter of Congress finding ways to > raise money. A later poster reminded us that not only is Congress > unfamiliar with what we do and how we do it - along with why we are needed - > the FCC is just as ignorant as well. Despite that fact that WISPA has > communicated, the FCC people as a whole just DO NOT GRASP the realities of > free market service providers. > > Until the readers were so sore here that nobody would talk to me, and > threatened to expel me, I tried to explain how WISPA needed to take a > PRINCIPLED STAND at the time WISPA began to be noticed in DC, that we > believed in Free Markets and freedom to do business, without being > encumbered (killed) by federal regulation. > > To this day, WISPA has no published principles which say that it, or you, > believe in free markets, open competition, and consumer - oriented > stewardship of the nation's RF spectrum-rather than auctioning the assets to > the largest bidder. Instead, WISPA has a history of alternatively being for > and against various actions - mostly based upon whether or not it was > financially a win for the larger voices of WISPA. > > This lack of principled direction has now come and bitten us in the > backside, potentially lethally. The central notion we have to fight is > that spectrum should be auctioned (revenue to the feds) to the highest > bidder. And someone, in their ignorance, has managed to commit an idea > commensurate to your local city government suddenly deciding to create a > "license to sell groceries" and has structured it so that it is all tied to > one auction, where any deep pockets bidder can remove the ability of all the > incumbents to stay in business. Instead of educating Congress, the FCC > ,and our allies (if we have any) about how freedom to be in business has > been the central mechanism by which a vast swath of America has great > internet service, we've quibbled over dollars and rules and tried to slant > them for us against others - the very thinking we must now defeat. > > I have said we all stand on freedom, or fall together, and for this I have > been branded as a radical, idiot, moron, right wing extremist, and so on - > as such principles are, according to the self proclaimed 'wise men' of the > group, outdated and unworkable. Until we need them, of course. Even the > tortured and twisted explanation below is still trying to defend the big > government crapola, and by now, it better be as clear and obvious to you, as > a just hammered thumbnail, that NOTHING ELSE MATTERS IF WE DO NOT HAVE THE > FREEDOM TO BE IN BUSINESS. > > I was at founding of WISPA. I was there within a week or two of the > interest list being formed, and I joined and donated money, until previous > people of WISPA were found by me to be advocating FCC mandates on us. At > which I resigned and will not rejoin until my money is no longer at risk of > being used against our basic and fundamental freedoms. > > YEARS have been sqandered, because WISPA failed to advocate for freedom > first, a consistent, principled basis for everything said, advocacy > positions, etc. Now, you have to suddenly "get rel
Re: [WISPA] The Legislative Situation Is Dire
Nice re-write of history, Forbes. Who are you trying to protect? It is NOT Congress which has been the motivating factor behind the FCC's anti-competitive behavior... It has been the administration and the people that this administration have appointed and have hired, combined with a small number of extreme left-wing groups who have been pushing Net Neutrality, etc. It was NEVER Congress that pushed this. Your effort to see spectrum auctioned is not so much a matter of lobbyists having taken over Congress as it is a matter of Congress finding ways to raise money. A later poster reminded us that not only is Congress unfamiliar with what we do and how we do it - along with why we are needed - the FCC is just as ignorant as well. Despite that fact that WISPA has communicated, the FCC people as a whole just DO NOT GRASP the realities of free market service providers. Until the readers were so sore here that nobody would talk to me, and threatened to expel me, I tried to explain how WISPA needed to take a PRINCIPLED STAND at the time WISPA began to be noticed in DC, that we believed in Free Markets and freedom to do business, without being encumbered (killed) by federal regulation. To this day, WISPA has no published principles which say that it, or you, believe in free markets, open competition, and consumer - oriented stewardship of the nation's RF spectrum-rather than auctioning the assets to the largest bidder. Instead, WISPA has a history of alternatively being for and against various actions - mostly based upon whether or not it was financially a win for the larger voices of WISPA. This lack of principled direction has now come and bitten us in the backside, potentially lethally. The central notion we have to fight is that spectrum should be auctioned (revenue to the feds) to the highest bidder. And someone, in their ignorance, has managed to commit an idea commensurate to your local city government suddenly deciding to create a "license to sell groceries" and has structured it so that it is all tied to one auction, where any deep pockets bidder can remove the ability of all the incumbents to stay in business. Instead of educating Congress, the FCC ,and our allies (if we have any) about how freedom to be in business has been the central mechanism by which a vast swath of America has great internet service, we've quibbled over dollars and rules and tried to slant them for us against others - the very thinking we must now defeat. I have said we all stand on freedom, or fall together, and for this I have been branded as a radical, idiot, moron, right wing extremist, and so on - as such principles are, according to the self proclaimed 'wise men' of the group, outdated and unworkable. Until we need them, of course. Even the tortured and twisted explanation below is still trying to defend the big government crapola, and by now, it better be as clear and obvious to you, as a just hammered thumbnail, that NOTHING ELSE MATTERS IF WE DO NOT HAVE THE FREEDOM TO BE IN BUSINESS. I was at founding of WISPA. I was there within a week or two of the interest list being formed, and I joined and donated money, until previous people of WISPA were found by me to be advocating FCC mandates on us. At which I resigned and will not rejoin until my money is no longer at risk of being used against our basic and fundamental freedoms. YEARS have been sqandered, because WISPA failed to advocate for freedom first, a consistent, principled basis for everything said, advocacy positions, etc. Now, you have to suddenly "get religion", because EVERYONE's freedom is at stake, even our competition's,. Rather than advocate for that, WISPA now has a history just as compromised as AT&T's and every lobbyist's, because it stood for little more than trying to bend the rules to favor US instead of "THEM". Expediently, we've "discovered" that open markets mean open to competition, as well, something not advocated by WISPA before. I said in 2009 that there were people headed for Congress, a sea change coming, and that WISPA needed to get politically allied with the pro freedom crowd. They were called radicals and idiots on this list instead. If you have even ONCE advocated for big government intervention... For money your way, for regulation to favor you instead of them, for a chance to get your hands on the subsidies, or IN ANY WAY supported the notion of government intervention in the markets YOU are directly to blame for the mess we're facing. YOU failed to stand for the ONE thing that matters, freedom. I sure hope we win this fight. When I started posting about defending your right to be in business several years ago, it was because I had envisioned this happening, it was written on the wall, in big letters. I told you so. Are you going to get serious, or this just going to be just more arguments of convenience? +++
[WISPA] service near palmyra, va?
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[WISPA] FCC webinar on 477
Title: signature http://www.fcc.gov/events/form-477-compliance-webinar -- Martha Huizenga DC Access, LLC 202-546-5898 Friendly, Local, Affordable, Internet! Connecting the Capitol Hill Community Join us on or follow us on WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] The Legislative Situation Is Dire
I hope everyone on the List reads this post Tom! You nailed it. Just because the minority bill does less damage, doesn't mean that we should support it! Regards, Jeff ImageStream Sales Manager 800-813-5123 x106 -Original Message- From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On Behalf Of Tom DeReggi Sent: Friday, July 15, 2011 11:07 AM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] The Legislative Situation Is Dire It should be noted that the today that we face is not neceesarilly an indication of a bad thing. It was just a fork in the road, and the big telco lobbiests reached the fork shortly before us. What we have here is a chance to make a meaningful permanent change on spectrum policy. A fast track that doesn;t come along often. Congress has that power. But with every opportunity there also comes risk attached, and the risk is great if we are not at the top of our game. This is NOT the time to be weak, it is the time that demands strength and persistence. This is where we say, we dont give up and aren't willing to go away, and we simply aren't going to let congress try to take our innovative drive away. And where we have the courage and responsibilty to call it like we see it, and not accept when the FCC does wrong, we also have the equal obligation to defend our FCC that we have intemently interacted with over the years. When I testified on NetNEutrality for the republicans, ATT claimed to be for the NetNeutrality rules. The republicans, dragged out the truth that ATT did NOT like the rules, they just agreed that they were less harmful than the rules could have been, and they were willing to reduce risk, and except less harmful rules. The republicans were quick to use that to there advantage and argue that "settling for less harmful" should not be adequate testimony to contitute being in favor of, and that we should have rules that benefit us, not just that are less harmful, if we are to have successful broadband policy. I see no reason we cant use that same arguement against the House committee. Right now, the majority bill is horrid. So we show more support for the minority companion bill that is less harmful. Allthough we can agree and testify that the new minority bill is less harmful and preverable than the other, we can not loose focus that both bills are harmful in some capacity. We need to tell congress what we honestly really think, and we need a stronger stance. A very very relevent point is that there has been an eight year public open process on whitespace where 3 administrations had been involved ans all concluded the value of unlicensed and allocation of Whitespace to unlicensed in significant capacity. For congress to undermine that would be undermining public opinion. There is proof, 8 years of FCC records showing that the FCC's decission represented the public interests. Congresss has an obligation to represent the public interest. I would argue that the only evidence that we need to support our claim is submit FCC historical record as evidence. In my opinion, ignoring that evidence in favor of big money lobbyiest, or to assist with poor federal budgeting, would be corruption. The bills are scary, but that does not mean we have to let them pass. Tom DeReggi RapidDSL & Wireless, Inc IntAirNet- Fixed Wireless Broadband - Original Message - From: "Forbes Mercy" To: ; "WISPA General List" Sent: Friday, July 15, 2011 9:03 AM Subject: [WISPA] The Legislative Situation Is Dire > TO WISP's > > I'm not much of an alarmist and I would never claim the sky is falling > unless I had positive proof. Right now WISPA is faced with what I > perceive as the most serious threat to our industry to date. Some of > you may complain that the FCC is an overreaching intruder into our > business. While Federal Government oversight and regulations into our > rapidly growing industry may seem intrusive WISPA has always had their > ear and we feel they listen and include us into much of their decision > making process. There is no doubt they truly want nation-wide service > and recognize the lack of enthusiastic expansion by major players > (legacy carriers) into the rural area which is our strongest argument. > > Starting with Net Neutrality we noticed that Congress was starting to > politicize the work of the FCC. Some of you thought that was a good > thing since you felt the FCC was slow in releasing frequencies. The > micro-management of the FCC on that first issue has rapidly grown to > full fledged taking over of the FCC's mission. Once the legacy > characters found that they could go around the FCC to Congress, where > they already give millions in "donations", they knew they had one big > leg up on small budget organizations like WISPA. They are now flexing > their full lobbying muscle by getting some 'friends' in Congress to > introduce bills that would freeze any future expansion of the WISP > market l
Re: [WISPA] The Legislative Situation Is Dire
It should be noted that the today that we face is not neceesarilly an indication of a bad thing. It was just a fork in the road, and the big telco lobbiests reached the fork shortly before us. What we have here is a chance to make a meaningful permanent change on spectrum policy. A fast track that doesn;t come along often. Congress has that power. But with every opportunity there also comes risk attached, and the risk is great if we are not at the top of our game. This is NOT the time to be weak, it is the time that demands strength and persistence. This is where we say, we dont give up and aren't willing to go away, and we simply aren't going to let congress try to take our innovative drive away. And where we have the courage and responsibilty to call it like we see it, and not accept when the FCC does wrong, we also have the equal obligation to defend our FCC that we have intemently interacted with over the years. When I testified on NetNEutrality for the republicans, ATT claimed to be for the NetNeutrality rules. The republicans, dragged out the truth that ATT did NOT like the rules, they just agreed that they were less harmful than the rules could have been, and they were willing to reduce risk, and except less harmful rules. The republicans were quick to use that to there advantage and argue that "settling for less harmful" should not be adequate testimony to contitute being in favor of, and that we should have rules that benefit us, not just that are less harmful, if we are to have successful broadband policy. I see no reason we cant use that same arguement against the House committee. Right now, the majority bill is horrid. So we show more support for the minority companion bill that is less harmful. Allthough we can agree and testify that the new minority bill is less harmful and preverable than the other, we can not loose focus that both bills are harmful in some capacity. We need to tell congress what we honestly really think, and we need a stronger stance. A very very relevent point is that there has been an eight year public open process on whitespace where 3 administrations had been involved ans all concluded the value of unlicensed and allocation of Whitespace to unlicensed in significant capacity. For congress to undermine that would be undermining public opinion. There is proof, 8 years of FCC records showing that the FCC's decission represented the public interests. Congresss has an obligation to represent the public interest. I would argue that the only evidence that we need to support our claim is submit FCC historical record as evidence. In my opinion, ignoring that evidence in favor of big money lobbyiest, or to assist with poor federal budgeting, would be corruption. The bills are scary, but that does not mean we have to let them pass. Tom DeReggi RapidDSL & Wireless, Inc IntAirNet- Fixed Wireless Broadband - Original Message - From: "Forbes Mercy" To: ; "WISPA General List" Sent: Friday, July 15, 2011 9:03 AM Subject: [WISPA] The Legislative Situation Is Dire > TO WISP's > > I'm not much of an alarmist and I would never claim the sky is falling > unless I had positive proof. Right now WISPA is faced with what I > perceive as the most serious threat to our industry to date. Some of > you may complain that the FCC is an overreaching intruder into our > business. While Federal Government oversight and regulations into our > rapidly growing industry may seem intrusive WISPA has always had their > ear and we feel they listen and include us into much of their decision > making process. There is no doubt they truly want nation-wide service > and recognize the lack of enthusiastic expansion by major players > (legacy carriers) into the rural area which is our strongest argument. > > Starting with Net Neutrality we noticed that Congress was starting to > politicize the work of the FCC. Some of you thought that was a good > thing since you felt the FCC was slow in releasing frequencies. The > micro-management of the FCC on that first issue has rapidly grown to > full fledged taking over of the FCC's mission. Once the legacy > characters found that they could go around the FCC to Congress, where > they already give millions in "donations", they knew they had one big > leg up on small budget organizations like WISPA. They are now flexing > their full lobbying muscle by getting some 'friends' in Congress to > introduce bills that would freeze any future expansion of the WISP > market locking us out of the lower frequencies that we need to penetrate > vegetation and terrain. Much like teaching the Internet to your parents > other legislators look at the new laws with dazed amazement and just say > OK not realizing the ramifications and listening to the lobbyist spin. > > WISPA is not sitting back on this one, last year our board was not > afraid to go far out of budget to get our feet firmly in the door on > issues such as TV Whi
Re: [WISPA] The Legislative Situation Is Dire
Might I suggest speaking with Dave Wenhold? He has done WONDERS for another small association with similar needs, ATSI ( www.atsi.org ) His contact info is: Dave Wenhold, CAE, PLC Miller/Wenhold Capitol Strategies 10623 Jones Street Suite 101-A Fairfax, VA 22030 P: (703) 927-1453 F: (703) 935-2266 E: dwenh...@mwcapitol.com W: www.mwcapitol.com I've taken the liberty of CC'ing him with this note Aaron D. Osgood Streamline Solutions L.L.C P.O. Box 6115 Falmouth, ME 04105 TEL: 207-781-5561 MOBILE: 207-831-5829 ICQ: 206889374 GVoice: 207.518.8455 GTalk: aaron.osgood aosg...@streamline-solutions.net http://www.streamline-solutions.net Introducing Efficiency to Business since 1986. -Original Message- From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On Behalf Of Forbes Mercy Sent: Friday, July 15, 2011 9:04 AM To: memb...@wispa.org; WISPA General List Subject: [WISPA] The Legislative Situation Is Dire TO WISP's I'm not much of an alarmist and I would never claim the sky is falling unless I had positive proof. Right now WISPA is faced with what I perceive as the most serious threat to our industry to date. Some of you may complain that the FCC is an overreaching intruder into our business. While Federal Government oversight and regulations into our rapidly growing industry may seem intrusive WISPA has always had their ear and we feel they listen and include us into much of their decision making process. There is no doubt they truly want nation-wide service and recognize the lack of enthusiastic expansion by major players (legacy carriers) into the rural area which is our strongest argument. Starting with Net Neutrality we noticed that Congress was starting to politicize the work of the FCC. Some of you thought that was a good thing since you felt the FCC was slow in releasing frequencies. The micro-management of the FCC on that first issue has rapidly grown to full fledged taking over of the FCC's mission. Once the legacy characters found that they could go around the FCC to Congress, where they already give millions in "donations", they knew they had one big leg up on small budget organizations like WISPA. They are now flexing their full lobbying muscle by getting some 'friends' in Congress to introduce bills that would freeze any future expansion of the WISP market locking us out of the lower frequencies that we need to penetrate vegetation and terrain. Much like teaching the Internet to your parents other legislators look at the new laws with dazed amazement and just say OK not realizing the ramifications and listening to the lobbyist spin. WISPA is not sitting back on this one, last year our board was not afraid to go far out of budget to get our feet firmly in the door on issues such as TV White Spaces (TV White Spaces) and the Universal Service Fund change to Connect America Fund (CAF). It appears all that work is now under scrutiny by Congress and their answer seems to be one of 'lets just put all frequencies up for bid, licensed and unlicensed'. None of us WISP's could afford to bid against the likes of AT&T and Verizon and it has the potential of locking all small business out of any future frequencies. Yesterday the Legislative, FCC, and Promotions Committee of WISPA got together and released a letter to all Congressional Members of several committees relevant to this battle, in addition we paid to have a formal press release sent to the media objecting to this path that both the Senate and House seem to be pursuing. We are now interviewing potential Lobbyists (something we've never needed before) and, other firms that can help us with this new front we have to fight on. Where WISPA will have to go to get the ear of Congress to stop this insane path is all new to us but we are up to the challange. We have great legal counsel, members that can attend and testify hearings, allies in other groups such as New America feel the pain like us on this issue. We will be making alliances, learning how to do social networking to reach our members, our members subscribers and, anyone who will side with us to form grass roots efforts to get the attention of Congress. At this point we are not asking for a special assessment or other means to aggressively answer this call, we are within budget so far but it's hard to say how far this will go. We simply are asking you to watch closely what we inform membership, prepare to be involved because unless you are content with the current frequencies and rules we are under you will directly be affected by this Congressional action. If we give in to these irrational rules don't think Congress or the legacy characters will stop there, if they sell the revenue model successfully they could go after existing frequencies too. WISPA will be releasing talking points next week so that you can help us by making appointments with your Congressperson while they are in di
Re: [WISPA] OT: Undersea Cables
At 7/15/2011 02:35 AM, Gary Garrett wrote: >Looks like most of the Internet will go dark when California goes >off into the ocean.. Let's hope that all of that cable helps anchor California in place! Aside: Way back when, at the time of the Loma Prieta quake, I was at DEC. One of their customers had a small VAX in a server room whose floor broke open from the quake. The VAX fell into the crack, but was suspended by its various cables, mainly power. And it remained intact. Hence we had "San Andreas Fault Tolerant Computers". -- Fred Goldsteink1io fgoldstein "at" ionary.com ionary Consulting http://www.ionary.com/ +1 617 795 2701 WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] The Legislative Situation Is Dire
It's great to rail against Congress but everyone should understand that, whether we agree with them or not, this IS ultimately their responsibility. Agencies such as the FCC have often taken somewhat vague (often intentionally vague) legislation and taken actions/made rules far beyond what the signers of the law intended. Net Neutrality is just one example of this. Personally, I'd rather that ELECTED bodies make these decisions, rather than some politically appointed board. Elected officials MUST respond to their voters. Appointed board members only have to keep those who appointed them happy. Most Congressmen/women have no idea that this discussion is even taking place (other than those on the committee, and perhaps some of the leadership). If they had heard of it, they likely had no idea what it meant. 435 + 100 people (mostly lawyers) cannot be expected to understand every single technical aspect of this sort of legislation. That's why WISPA, its members and friends, equipment manufacturers, and probably most importantly YOUR CUSTOMERS must inform them. I'm sure it's forthcoming, but a list of all the Congress members on the relevant committees with their contact info would be most helpful. That and the official WISPA position (in plain language) will allow us to leverage all of our assets to go after this wrong-headed legislation. Once we are armed with this information, every member should contact their Congressman...remember, many of them were just elected in 2010 for the first time. Their heads are still spinning, and they are also more likely to be responsive than some 40 year vet. Regards, Jeff ImageStream Sales Manager 800-813-5123 x106 -Original Message- From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On Behalf Of Forbes Mercy Sent: Friday, July 15, 2011 9:04 AM To: memb...@wispa.org; WISPA General List Subject: [WISPA] The Legislative Situation Is Dire TO WISP's I'm not much of an alarmist and I would never claim the sky is falling unless I had positive proof. Right now WISPA is faced with what I perceive as the most serious threat to our industry to date. Some of you may complain that the FCC is an overreaching intruder into our business. While Federal Government oversight and regulations into our rapidly growing industry may seem intrusive WISPA has always had their ear and we feel they listen and include us into much of their decision making process. There is no doubt they truly want nation-wide service and recognize the lack of enthusiastic expansion by major players (legacy carriers) into the rural area which is our strongest argument. Starting with Net Neutrality we noticed that Congress was starting to politicize the work of the FCC. Some of you thought that was a good thing since you felt the FCC was slow in releasing frequencies. The micro-management of the FCC on that first issue has rapidly grown to full fledged taking over of the FCC's mission. Once the legacy characters found that they could go around the FCC to Congress, where they already give millions in "donations", they knew they had one big leg up on small budget organizations like WISPA. They are now flexing their full lobbying muscle by getting some 'friends' in Congress to introduce bills that would freeze any future expansion of the WISP market locking us out of the lower frequencies that we need to penetrate vegetation and terrain. Much like teaching the Internet to your parents other legislators look at the new laws with dazed amazement and just say OK not realizing the ramifications and listening to the lobbyist spin. WISPA is not sitting back on this one, last year our board was not afraid to go far out of budget to get our feet firmly in the door on issues such as TV White Spaces (TV White Spaces) and the Universal Service Fund change to Connect America Fund (CAF). It appears all that work is now under scrutiny by Congress and their answer seems to be one of 'lets just put all frequencies up for bid, licensed and unlicensed'. None of us WISP's could afford to bid against the likes of AT&T and Verizon and it has the potential of locking all small business out of any future frequencies. Yesterday the Legislative, FCC, and Promotions Committee of WISPA got together and released a letter to all Congressional Members of several committees relevant to this battle, in addition we paid to have a formal press release sent to the media objecting to this path that both the Senate and House seem to be pursuing. We are now interviewing potential Lobbyists (something we've never needed before) and, other firms that can help us with this new front we have to fight on. Where WISPA will have to go to get the ear of Congress to stop this insane path is all new to us but we are up to the challange. We have great legal counsel, members that can attend and testify hearings, allies in other groups such as New America feel the pain lik
[WISPA] The Legislative Situation Is Dire
TO WISP's I'm not much of an alarmist and I would never claim the sky is falling unless I had positive proof. Right now WISPA is faced with what I perceive as the most serious threat to our industry to date. Some of you may complain that the FCC is an overreaching intruder into our business. While Federal Government oversight and regulations into our rapidly growing industry may seem intrusive WISPA has always had their ear and we feel they listen and include us into much of their decision making process. There is no doubt they truly want nation-wide service and recognize the lack of enthusiastic expansion by major players (legacy carriers) into the rural area which is our strongest argument. Starting with Net Neutrality we noticed that Congress was starting to politicize the work of the FCC. Some of you thought that was a good thing since you felt the FCC was slow in releasing frequencies. The micro-management of the FCC on that first issue has rapidly grown to full fledged taking over of the FCC's mission. Once the legacy characters found that they could go around the FCC to Congress, where they already give millions in "donations", they knew they had one big leg up on small budget organizations like WISPA. They are now flexing their full lobbying muscle by getting some 'friends' in Congress to introduce bills that would freeze any future expansion of the WISP market locking us out of the lower frequencies that we need to penetrate vegetation and terrain. Much like teaching the Internet to your parents other legislators look at the new laws with dazed amazement and just say OK not realizing the ramifications and listening to the lobbyist spin. WISPA is not sitting back on this one, last year our board was not afraid to go far out of budget to get our feet firmly in the door on issues such as TV White Spaces (TV White Spaces) and the Universal Service Fund change to Connect America Fund (CAF). It appears all that work is now under scrutiny by Congress and their answer seems to be one of 'lets just put all frequencies up for bid, licensed and unlicensed'. None of us WISP's could afford to bid against the likes of AT&T and Verizon and it has the potential of locking all small business out of any future frequencies. Yesterday the Legislative, FCC, and Promotions Committee of WISPA got together and released a letter to all Congressional Members of several committees relevant to this battle, in addition we paid to have a formal press release sent to the media objecting to this path that both the Senate and House seem to be pursuing. We are now interviewing potential Lobbyists (something we've never needed before) and, other firms that can help us with this new front we have to fight on. Where WISPA will have to go to get the ear of Congress to stop this insane path is all new to us but we are up to the challange. We have great legal counsel, members that can attend and testify hearings, allies in other groups such as New America feel the pain like us on this issue. We will be making alliances, learning how to do social networking to reach our members, our members subscribers and, anyone who will side with us to form grass roots efforts to get the attention of Congress. At this point we are not asking for a special assessment or other means to aggressively answer this call, we are within budget so far but it's hard to say how far this will go. We simply are asking you to watch closely what we inform membership, prepare to be involved because unless you are content with the current frequencies and rules we are under you will directly be affected by this Congressional action. If we give in to these irrational rules don't think Congress or the legacy characters will stop there, if they sell the revenue model successfully they could go after existing frequencies too. WISPA will be releasing talking points next week so that you can help us by making appointments with your Congressperson while they are in district during the month of August. We really need to educate them that this path is bad for America and their constituents. If you need constant updates please join the Legislative Committee as we will be posting most of the Legislative work in that venue. Thank you for your time and we appreciate you realizing the huge task we have ahead of us. Forbes Mercy WISPA VP/Legislative Chair WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] OT: Undersea Cables
Telecom Ramblings has a lot of maps as well. - Mike Hammett Intelligent Computing Solutions http://www.ics-il.com On 7/14/2011 4:06 PM, Jerry Richardson wrote: Interesting stuff: http://www.cablemap.info/ Jerry Richardson 925-260-4119 x2 www.aircloud.com WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
Re: [WISPA] OT: Undersea Cables
Most cable systems that hit CA also land up in Oregon. - Mike Hammett Intelligent Computing Solutions http://www.ics-il.com On 7/15/2011 1:35 AM, Gary Garrett wrote: Looks like most of the Internet will go dark when California goes off into the ocean.. On 7/14/2011 2:06 PM, Jerry Richardson wrote: Interesting stuff: http://www.cablemap.info/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/ WISPA Wants You! Join today! http://signup.wispa.org/ WISPA Wireless List: wireless@wispa.org Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
